Africa

The “liberation” of Sirte and Jufra from Khalifa Haftar’s forces has become “more urgent than ever” for Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA) following the deployment of mercenaries in the country, the United Nations-recognised government’s army spokesperson said. In a statement on Saturday, Muhammad Qanunu said “Sirte was the most …

A woman who gave birth at sea was among 93 migrants rescued off Libyan shores as they tried to reach Europe, but six others died along the way, the UN’s migration agency said. The survivors were brought back overnight to the port city of Khoms, 120km (75 miles) west of …

Italy’s Defence Minister Lorenzo Guerini stressed the importance and necessity of Italy maintaining a presence in Libya. During a meeting of the Foreign and Defence Committees in the Senate and the House of Representatives dedicated to Italy’s participation in international missions, Guerini stated that the Libyan situation is well-known, pointing …

Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan will agree on a deal to fill the giant Blue Nile dam in two to three weeks, following mediation by the African Union to broker a deal to end a decade-long dispute over water supplies. Tortuous negotiations over the years have left the two nations and …

Ethiopia has reiterated it will start filling the reservoir of a controversial dam on the Nile – that has been at the center of a decade-long dispute in East Africa – even without an agreement from Egypt and Sudan. The construction of the $4.6bn Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on …

The Ministry of Defence of the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) said it will continue in its moves to recapture the eastern city of Sirte from the forces of renegade General Khalifa Haftar despite the warning of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi that the city represents a “red line” …

DR Congo’s government on Thursday officially declared an end to an Ebola epidemic that broke out in the east of the troubled country in August 2018 and went on to claim 2,277 lives. The outbreak was “the longest, most complex and deadliest” in the 60-year history of the Democratic Republic …

Libya’s coast guard intercepted 71 migrants hoping to make it to Europe, including four women and two children and returned them to the capital Tripoli, the U.N. migration organization said Thursday. The International Organization for Migration tweeted that the migrants, who were stopped late Wednesday, were given food and emergency …

Police in Nigeria have rescued 300 people they say were locked in a rice-processing factory and forced to work throughout a coronavirus lockdown. From the end of March the men were allegedly not allowed to leave the mill in the northern city of Kano. The workers were promised an additional …

Two people were killed after a suicide bomber detonated his explosives outside Turkey’s largest overseas military base in Mogadishu on Tuesday, Somali officials said, the latest reminder of Somalia’s struggle to curb the deadly attacks that have haunted the country for years. The attack, which bears the hallmarks of the …

France will not tolerate Turkey’s military intervention in Libya, President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday, accusing Ankara of playing “a dangerous game”. Turkey has intervened decisively in recent weeks in Libya, providing air support, weapons, and allied fighters from Syria to help the government based in Tripoli repel a year-long …

The Libyan government on Sunday dubbed the Egyptian president’s military intervention threat as a “declaration of war.” “The statements of the Egyptian President [Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi], which are harassing Libya’s sovereignty and meddling in its internal affairs, and supporting putschists, militias, and mercenaries in Libya are unacceptable,” the government’s press office …

Mutinous soldiers in the Somali capital Mogadishu have blocked roads near the presidential palace in a protest over unpaid salaries. Some of the troops say they haven’t been paid in more than a year. Local television footage shows soldiers blocking vehicles from the African Union peacekeeping force from passing. The …

At least seven people have died in two separate bomb attacks in southern and central Somalia in the last 24 hours, police and military officers said on Sunday. In the first incident, two bombs planted in front of the house of a military official in Wanlaweyn town, 90 km northwest …

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday said his country has a legitimate right to intervene in neighbouring Libya and ordered his army to be ready to carry out any mission outside the country, if necessary. Sisi’s comments came amid high tensions over regional rival Turkey’s intervention in Libya. He …

The United Nations’ Secretary-General has called for calm and dialogue in Mali after tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in the capital Bamako on Friday demanding President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita step down. Keita was re-elected in 2018 for a second five-year term but has struggled with a …

Could Algeria soon send troops from its army, the pillar of the regime, to join peace-keeping missions led by the United Nations or African Union? President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has urged a constitutional change that would allow deployments abroad, signalling a departure from a military doctrine that has barred interventions outside …

Nearly 80 million people have been forced to flee their homes due to violence and persecution, marking a near-doubling of global displacement in a decade, the UN said Thursday. By the end of 2019, one out of every 97 people in the world was living uprooted and displaced, according to …

South Africa has been described as “one of the most unsafe places in the world to be a woman” and as the country has entered level 3 of its lockdown which included the ban on the sale of alcohol being lifted, there has been a surge in femicide cases across …

The United Nations peacekeeping force in Mali says two of its soldiers were killed in an attack on their convoy in the country’s north. A logistical convoy of the UN mission traveling between the towns of Tessalit and Gao was attacked on Saturday evening by “unidentified armed individuals” who killed …